By Holly the Assistant
(Last night Sarah messaged me that she wasn’t feeling well, would I please take the blog today? So please keep her in your prayers and good thoughts: half the folks I know are down with the winter crud right now and it’s a doozy.)
Good Morning, Usaians, and other Huns and Hoydens!
“Holly,” you ask, “Why are you posting this so many months before July?”
Well, I’m glad you asked. See, my life–since I was two–has been spent in the performing arts. Not the fancy movies kind, but the small, local shows kind. And I married a guy from a similar background, and we raised kids that way, and . . . six months before a show of this scale goes up, you better have a good idea what this production is going to look like.
And it IS a show. A HUGE show. Maybe the biggest show of our lives, for those of us born just after the 200th. So since I’m currently finishing up an arrangement of a group of nice, historical, patriotic songs, for my cello students to play (historical? Yes, do I look like I want to deal with ‘who even owns the copyright? Them? Ugh.’), and considering the ups and downs of playing in the local symphony’s Independence Day concert, I thought I’d poke around the net a bit for what other places are doing.
There’s an official website supposedly for everyone to list their celebrations on. Well, let me tell you, that’s not actually happening. Yet. Most places will probably get around to it eventually, but . . . I know of the local celebrations and none of them are there. https://america250.org/ But there ARE things going on at the national level. There’s a place to register your service hours. There’s a competition for the kiddos. There’s a video recording tour thing . . . interviews with Americans about what America means and you can nominate people for it. Please go nominate people for it. Our people’s voices should be included in the official records. You know the people–and if I list names I’ll have a bunch of grumpy dangerous folk mad at me, so just go do it.
My local towns go all in for Independence Day every year, and looking at their websites, and the county’s, there’s a LOT more going on this year. (I mentioned the symphony playing the fireworks? We usually don’t meet June-August.) I know the civic organizations I’m a member of are doing things, and not just the usual Free Water Bottle Station at the Independence Day parade.
I know a bunch of us are on the solitary side of curmudgeon–looks at the mirror–but it is healthy for even us, as health allows, to get involved with other folks, and this is a good time for it, for us. This is something we can believe in, that while not perfect, America is the best country to ever exist and worthy of celebration. And we all have skills of use for this. I know a bunch of you are going to be involved on the emergency communications side, the medic side, etc. But those of us who are best at putting on a show? At hawking wares at a fair? Painting a wall? Just existing wearing clothes? We’re also needed.
Let’s make this the biggest and best party yet, and give the ‘kids these days’ in another fifty years something to top.
What’s your area doing? Got ideas for how to do this even more and better? Tell me about them.
According To Hoyt 
C4C
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To all those who give their time to their communities and to others, here’s a verbal pat on the back. You deserve it. I’ll stay away for now, I also am a victim of a viral invasion, this one doesn’t want to let go, and I am against spreading it to others. If misery does indeed love company I hear there are plenty of us under viral attack. Hot tea and chicken soup to you all.
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Only local thing I’ve seen is the sesquicentennial plate (https://www.mass.gov/news/rmv-celebrates-massachusetts-250-with-commemorative-license-plate) it seems pretty popular (it is an extra cost, extra money allegedly goes to sesquicentennial celebrations). I also look forward to sesquicentennial coins, I’ll probably pony up for an uncirculated set to go with my proof bicenntenial set (proof set for this year is struck in silver and pricey at $300+ list).
I do remember participating in Bicentennial celebrations at my church July 4 1976 was a Sunday I think). Choir dressed up in “period” clothing and I had even let my hair grow enough for a moderate pony tail (Note to the ladies, how you put up with long hair I do NOT know, my slightly wavy hair was an absolute pain at shoulder length and hot if not restrained). We sang a Billings piece (American period composer) a capella for the offertory (period church would NOT have had an organ, likely wouldn’t have had a choir either :-) ). Really odd harmonies, very hard to get right as it sounded almost dissonant to my ears (Billings was self trained and wrote odd stuff). Ushers, Pastor etc were dressed up, and some parishioners participated too. We did NOT have a multi hour sermon :-) . Went out onto the green after church and watched the parade go by in our dinky little seaside town.
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Hm. Wouldn’t surprise me to see Oregon do something similar; have not seen an announcement. All of Oregon’s specialty plates extra plate and annual registration costs supposedly go to the cause depicted on the plate state budget.
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The only things I have seen from our lovely state is making a deal about inclusion and making sure all voices are heard.
/retch
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Feel better to Sarah and anyone else under the viruses that are making the rounds.
None of us, including mom, or sisters families, are affected (yet). We’ve been lucky.
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I’m doing my second round of The Crud. I saw an article the other day (and I can’t find it now) to the effect that the vitamin D3 correlation to health may actually reflect benefits from near-infrared exposure. If this is the case, our efficient LED light may be making things worse, because the waste in incandescent lamps is mostly in infrared emissions. My very limited understanding of the physics suggests that only a small fraction of that is near-infrared.
Unfortunately, near-IR LEDs are narrow-band emitters and the study did not give any insight into which parts of that spectrum are valuable, so if you want to experiment you’re on your own.
For the present, I hope to hear soon that Sarah is feeling better.
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cough sester cough
or semiquin.
sesqui is one and a half.
/pedant
And I just know this is going to come up a lot because nobody bothers with Latin anymore.
Also, I feel like a heel for being the one to bring it up.
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Yes! This. The sesquicentennial was a big deal… in 1926. Widely discussed under that name.
Only nobody seems to have a decent popular name for the 250th yet. I’ve been going with “quarter-millennial” (like the more conventional semi-millennial for 2276, which is right smack in the middle of some interesting fictional events of mine) — but really, that’s sort of hybridized and kludgy.
One of the first things we need to do to get ready for the oncoming quarter-millennial is (more or less) converge on something appropriate we can all call it. “250th” lacks a certain.. vigor and weight. Maybe pick from the two suggestions (just) above??
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Eff Tyranny
World Liberation Orbit CCL
Logo should include 18th century dressed Patriots in Tricorn hats, holding AR-15s and wearing webgear.
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Did anybody else see ‘Elf Tyranny’ on first read? 😛
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Raises hand.
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I am -trying- to clean up my effing language here.
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There’s “Semiquincentennial”, but that’s a mouthful.
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From her home in Heaven, my mother the English teacher says “Semiquincentennial, dear. Yes it’s long, but it’s worth it.” Mom was a peach :D
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My mother was an English teacher, too. I remember her helping kids learn to read at the Boy’s Club, back when I was a wee one, too. She would indeed say semiquincentennial, too.
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I kept thinking about bringing it ullip, but could not remember the proper Latinate.
Illinois did their sesquicentennial in 1968 or so. I went with my parents to the NCHA (N’tl Campers & Hikers Assn) “Kampvention”, where they did a big thing. The governor at the time (eventually to be the first in a long line* of Illinois governors who did a term in office followed by a term in prision (h/t Gary Muledeer) ) bloviated a bit, and the Up With People group did some songs.
(*) Not continuous. There were one or two honest ones. They usually never got reelected.
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OoFiftyTay ArtyPay
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Alas, “sesquicentennial” is only one hundred and fifty years, not two hundred and fifty. Your friendly neighborhood Latin teacher, Lori Kissell
Sent from AOL on Android
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As a child I watched the hooplah for the Bicentennial, and decided to try to stick around for the Tricentennial.
One should have audacious goals.
So here I am halfway to a major life objective. I just kinda recently bought a vroommobile, so I guess I just ticked the “midlife crisis purchase” box too.
(grin) Looking forward to chasing cute girls via walker/wheeler for another 50.
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I was around for bicentennial too. 250th will be easy to achieve. Looking forward to 275th (doable, would be slightly older than mom is now). 300th might be a stretch. Willing to try.
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We will be in New York Harbor, on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 for the Tall Ships Parade, airshow (featuring the Blue Angels), and finally fireworks – then a cruise to Newport RI.
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I remember the tall ships parade for the centenary of the Statue of Liberty. Truly awe inspiring!
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And Merry Old Christmas!
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I’ve not heard yet. The town that has the main 4th of July events will probably pull out all the stops. The “follow-up” town might decide to share events, or coordinate.
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Flyover Falls does a good one, I’ve heard (we’re 40 miles out of town and we don’t like driving late, or in heavy traffic, and get off our lawn). It’s host to an F15C training base, eventually F35s Real Soon Now, so maybe an airshow. I’m told that the runway was an emergency Shuttle landing zone, and some rather large planes have shown up, including a big Russian one (A large Antonov, but no idea which one. Wiki says they’re huge.) that’s right.)
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Hmmm … perhaps Roman Numerals would help – we could call it “America’s ACCLamation.”
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I just want to see some one light two hundred and fifty candles on the cake, and none of this candles shaped like a two five and zero. Maybe a flamethrower to light them all at once. Liberals and Rino’s can stand on the other side of the cake….tee hee.
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That would make a great cartoon, have Elon light the Candles and Chuckie and all the others on the hot side of the cake, then Musk says “Oops, my bad”… snicker, snort, guffaw.
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I even know how to get all the Chuckies on the hot side of the cake, put all the camera’s on the cold side and they’ll beat each other to death to get in front of the camera’s with the cake in the fore ground, make a great photo op…
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Tell Sarah that I’d better not see her running around here until she has recovered this time. I WILL have words!
Otherwise, a late Happy New Year to all here.
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how the evening started, approximately: “I wonder how much of the earth’s mass can be converted into tannerite.” (This is not the ‘practically’ or ‘economically’ answers, this is ‘elemental composition of earth’ fed into a chemical formula.)
how the evening may be ending: “very few people are explicitly trying to stop me from transliterating a bunch of English language content into the Shavian alphabet. This document requirements list includes font size, but I might include Korean language Hangul script content if I was crazy enough to try. “
I actually had an original thought, possibly, before things went quite so badly off of the rails, but it is one of those tier of ideas that argue that original and good or useful can be fairly distinct categories.
Slightly related, it is possible to keep accounting records in the Julian calendar and base sixteen.
Normal fireworks are basically mortar launched from the ground. It is a little bit of a shame that SpaceX’s launch capability does not allow us to do a fireworks display that is a two stage to orbit display that is visible after reentry. Higher potentially means a much larger audience, but it also means more energy and material to energize. I’m not a position to pull anything off this year, but I think I will be a bit too long in tooth to do anything for the tricentennial.
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I overheard gossip about the crud today, and could possibly have also been exposed.
However, it is an allergic time of year, and the person didn’t sound worse than a really bad episode of allergies.
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I work with the public, on job #2. Definitely have been exposed. No serious symptoms yet. Then again I once had a cold that lasted all winter (worked outside all winter, rain, sleet, snow and ice) and it was just an annoyance. Might’ve had it and didn’t register.
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I’ve had chronic sniffles. But not sniffles that indicate an infection of any sort. Haven’t been sick now since last round of covid, Jan 2021. Which means when something hits, history says, “buckle up sweetheart, it’ll be not fun nasty”. OTOH no children in school (great nieces, but we don’t see them much). No one in the household is working (one looking, others retired, so not looking) thus not exposed to other adults at work with children. Just going shopping, for the exposure. Although, I really need to start going to the gym (again, but it has been awhile, so “again” doesn’t count). Just waiting until the January rush is over.
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I look at my roses and the front camilla, which are blooming. Of course the camilla, pink, tends to bloom in the winter anyway, but generally not until later January, early February. Roses never bloom this late, or is it early?
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I’ve had a persistent, mostly dry cough for about a week. Seems to be gradually getting better. I just took a calcium/magnesium/zinc/vitamin D3 pill so that might help.
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Holly, thank you for your post and your willingness to stand in so ably when called upon!
Sarah, may you feel better quickly and recover soonest from the crud!
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Hear, hear!
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From Pennsylvania,(and back there again, for quite some time) but was leaving for my first ship so didn’t have time to get to Philadelphia for their blowout in 76. I believe I was at sea before the end of July. [USS South Carolina] Well, that was certainly ONE way to celebrate that milestone!
For this year, it will be the challenge of braving Philadelphia. Given recent trends, it is hard to view it as a ‘hospitable’ place, though no doubt the politicians will do their best to paint it that way (While doing noting to actually encourage that attitude locally …). Granted, it will be more welcoming than NYC. Will just have to see what the wife is up for. In the past, we might have been going to Williamsburg (VA) for their festivities, but local trends there have been offputting, as well.
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It’s hospitable to illegal alien criminals and ‘mostly peaceful protesters’ 😡
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I know that our week of summer camp ends on the 4th, so that will be fun… but at least this year it’s close, so we can do the local park fireworks again this year. (Only bad part of that was getting out—in spite of the fact that we took bikes. Getting shoved towards traffic by a bunch of yahoos who not only take up the entire sidewalk but the bike lane as well is no fun. Especially since they let people park in the bike lane, not usually legal at that spot, so my ten-year-old had half a foot from the cars, NOT cool.)
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